The organist librarian

Clearing and cleaning study prior to set up to paint. The light up there is great! That well known hymn comes to mind "Dust of ages left for me, let me write my name in thee". Various baby bits moved to landing to be handed on when all this is over. Call to wife below. "I found a mouse!" Mrs Glum "What.........!" "Old computer mouse, silly". Old radio had it. Luckily St John's hospice returned the one Liz Woodhouse bought for John East (they were supposed to keep it. No radio 3 on their TV system). So now Schubert and Mahler. Our Lady in oils (Ian would be horrified). I have the two portraits to work on as well. Old radio chucked and started using the one we took to the hospice for John East.  The Tablet just rang to say I had won the crossword competition. My 4th time! My trip to the Post box was my last time out apart from the garden.  You tube has a modern production of Madam Butterfly from Swedish opera. It struck me how "Me too...

The funeral of John Michael East at St Etheldreda's was beautiful with 3 male cantors singing the Latin requiem plainchant. Fr Tom sang the Mass in Latin. 29 present including many old and new friends. Enjoyable reception in the crypt. There were 3 Old Johannians present and 3 directors of music at St Etheldreda's. The Society of St Gregory, Latin Mass society and Monastic musicians were also well represented. We both went to the Royal Academy. Phyllida Barlow did not impress and as usual the Summer exhibition was a hotch potch! Liked the elephants and one or two paintings and prints. The architecture section was very interesting. Mali Morris RA had a small colourful display of works on paper. Ate at Itsu. Liz took robes back to the cathedral, went to servers council and dropped her Freedom pass. I went to an excellent lecture on the architecture of British mosques and I met 2 Muslim ladies one of whom asked a question about involving youth in planning mosques. Cambridge mosqu...

Mass and Liz to Aylesford with UCM where she served. Henry came and played happily chatting away all the time. To Royal Society of Medicine for annual 1963 OJ reunion always a delight. Only 10 this year. John East was remembered. Home at 11.

Woke early nd went back to sleep. I have prepared the sheet for the Old Johannian dinner on Tuesday and worked on the leaflet to accompany John Michael East's funeral rites. It is quite substantial already, Liz went to doodle workshop at Bethlem. Fr Daniel at Mass and chat to French families afterwards.

Took Liz to station to go to Aylesford for servers Mass. I went to Mass. Daniel Moult at Bromley PC and good to meet Jacob Collins. I enjoyed Rhosymedre and the Widor but not the Dupre. To St John and St Elizabeth hospice to visit my teacher John East who has just had his 90th birthday. Lovely to meet his niece. He needs prayers please. Home is where the art is. 

ToMass, Joe Fryday's funeral to follow Irish shirt on coffin and cup for ladies Gaelic events donated by him. Lunch with John East. Quiet time. We both went to West Norwood picturehouse to see "Whitecrow" which was excellent. BBC programme on Nureyev's defection.

Hymn society regional day at All Saints West Dulwich. John Ainslie on Catholic hymnody, Gordon Giles on English Hymnal, Janet Wootton on Billy Graham, Nicholas Markwell on How great thou art. Henry's second birthday party Postman Pat theme - it was packed. Escorted the blind lady to the cathedral and saw John East who has cancer of the liver and is very frail. Mass with Fr Michael. Alexander in tears at communion - legs hurting. Second week Fr Daniel has been called although this was not an incident.  Henry's second birthday party Postman Pat theme

Swam. Mass. Finalised Old Johannian dinner choices. To St Lawrence Jewry for excellent recital by Andrzej Malitowski Bach and Parry. John East, Michael O'Leary,Peter Wright, Michael Butterfield  and Paddy Russill.Very fine exhibition outside Guildhall about 14-18 War. Meditation at St John's accompanied by ladies choir Blossom Street singers Preparing for CD of women composers including Roxanna Panufnik and Judith Bingham. Sounded great but not silence.Enjoyed Secret life of 5 year olds and history of British Airways which is sadly not what it was and we prefer Emirates or Singapore airlines. Lou and Tom went to pub and Sean woke me around 9.45! A lot done in the library. I found I could add simple stock and listen to BBCIplayer at the same time. To Dulwich meeting and we heard Raleigh ICS in Niicaragua and Tanzania.Programme on Palmyra.

Power washed the patio but need to do it again. Daniel Moult stunning playing at Bromley parish church.I liked the move from Liszt to Piece heroique. Bach, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Elgar, Hollins and Ronald Corp made for a delightful programme.  Cleaned patio again and the front path. Had fun making spirals in the green stuff on shed and fences - could this catch on at Chelsea? Our shed has not looked like this for years!. Now knackered so second shower of the day Earl Grey tea and Antiques Roadshow! At Southwark cathedral refectory you will find paintings by  Adam Boulter  and poems by Malcolm Guite. Who would buy them Adam? Resurrection is lovely but £1200?  Marko Sever from Sydney played Dorian and L'Ascension at St Lawrence Jewry. He knows Peyer  Peter Jewkes  and  Thomas Wilson .  Mark Quarmby  no doubt. Goodvaudience and refreshments. John East there. Had cappuccino cake at Acton park cafe and Liz brought Ciaran from cinema and lunch it b...

To Proms composer David Horne's chamber works and interview and his new pieces were interesting. He seems to do fast music rather well. BBC Phil including John Bradley played superbly for Juanjo Mena who for a Spaniard showed a great love for English music. Walton's Variations on a theme of Paul Hindemith are beautifully written. So is Moeran's violin concerto (new to me) beautifully played by Tasmin Little in a sparkling gown. Enigma variations never fail to hit the spot and we had lovely lines. Saw John East.

Had a lie-in reading MacCulloch History of Christianity which is excellent! Found another box in shed containing front room photos and decorations. Spent ages choosing 52 photos to be printed off very cheaply by Starfish. Missed train as I had forgotten my hearing aids and there was a delay getting parked. Dashed to cathedral and just ready in time. Picked up the cope to put on Fr Michael Q and was informed it was not a feast day. I said "Oh really?" Of course Baptism of the Lord is a feast day! As I went to put the cope back they left for vespers which I thought very rude as I always go to vespers. Any way rehearsed acolytes and communion torches with the 4 youngsters. It transpired Fr M had hurt his shoulder and I had to carry the gospel book for him. Peter played Jupiter from the Planets brilliantly at the end. John East met us and we found Cafe Rouge was being rebuilt so we walked to Uno and had a lovely Italian meal. I had pizza with asparagus and tiramisu. We showed hi...

Woke up too early - still have Wagner on the brain! Swam 20 - the pool was busy! To British Library to finish what could be looked up there. Shopped at M & S St Pancras and got the train back to East Croydon. Arrived early at St Matthew's but the caretaker let me in. 3 ladies interviewed me about undertaking the spiritual direction course over years on 2nd Fridays. Went well.  I had bought flowers and chocs for Liz for the 39th anniversary tomorrow. Put shopping away and then off to the preProm talk with the composer Naresh Sohal. We heard string quartet extracts and an attractive song. John East gave me some details for the reunion yearbook.The commissioned by Sohal was attractive. Rachmaninov Piano concerto no. 3 very well played by Nikolai Lugansky but the miniature score was very small. I was drooping for Tchaikovsky 5th. Finished late but we were home by midnight. Apparently the young man we met last night is Nicholas and he is to study organ at the Academy and be scholar...

Monday was a Bank holiday but we had mosaic as usual so I missed the Bromley PC recital. I put the kettles on but this seems to have set off the fire alarm which eventually got turned off. The classic was the guy who turned up to help who asked "Have you got the key to the fire alarm cabinet?" If we had had that we would have turned it off mate! Home and worked on essay. Liz went to confirmation class. Watched Come dine with me form Edinburgh which was hilarious. Tuesday seam 20 and to St Dominc Waddon to play for Kitty's funeral. Since I played for Pat's funeral it has been refurbished and the Allen organ is in poor state - pedals very poor. I told Fr Paddy about Alan's house organs and he was very keen. Played manuals only stuff - Handel and Trumpet voluntary. Nice eats and Gill Beach was there. Helped Liz complete her work and it all got submitted - I helped sort out the bibliographies. She had been up late last night. To Royal Society of Medicine Wimpole St...

Rose popped in for tea and Liz decided to go to IKEA and miss the concert which was televised. RVW symphonies 4, 5 and 6 - an amazing contrast of English beauty between 2 striving clashing even violent works BBCSO with Andrew Manze conducting. A very good audience - John East was amazed! At the pre Prom Anthony Payne rightly commented that we should perform music written for our own times as so much repertoire is now recorded for posterity. He said it was wrong to pin period applications to the music.

Wednesday to Wigmore Hall for free concert by Connaught Opera who go around entertaining old folks. Good pianist Carol Wells and bass but the soprano had no high notes and a wobble. She changed her dress 5 times! Then to St Michael's for excellent recital by Richard Townend with flautist Hans-Georg Reinertz - Bach, Salome, Buxtehude, Dubois, Hilding Carlsson and Dudley Buck. Proms Plus was Jane Glover with her literary choices read by Simon Callow. I asked a question quoting Elif Sharak on why we read novels to get out of our box and this went down well. Saw John East in the queue. Nice new piece by Fung Lam. Rachmaninov 2 played well by Kirill Gerstein and Prokofiev 7. Last concert Handel Water music and home by midnight.

Tuesday's prom was splendid. Took the car to Acton and babysat Ciarán while Liz and Lou shopped. Had a great time running in his bedroom On your marks get set Go! But sometimes he just went No! London Phil cond Jurowski with scores. Kodaly Dances of Galanta, Bartok Piano concerto No. 1 which makes much use of percussion, Liszt Dante symphony with chorus and an excellent tenor. Loved it! Wednesday to Polka theatre Wimbledon - Ciarán loved all the playground and a rocking dolphin. The show was about archaeology and worms and they ended up playing with sand and having a great time. Had lunch there. Drove around the common and tennis club but no sign of a playground so back to Acton as he had dropped off. He had great fun in their pool and Liz cut back the hedges and ivy. Took car to Albert Hall and paid for parking. No scores! Berlioz Corsaire, Faure Pavane, Pascal Dupasin piece for quartet and orchestra interesting and Firebird with exciting ending. Offstage trumpet had a monitor so...

Friday 40 lengths - meetings at work. Choir practice a bit frustrating again - "I don't like this" is hardly helpful and a comment about Gareth Malone's talent did not please me. Saturday was a quiet day catching up on things and went to the recital at St Dunstan Bellingham by Paul Derrett. A fine Hill organ which came in the 20s from Chapel Royal St James Palace. I followed the Trumpet minuet of Alfred Hollins with the score - top C sharp on the pedals was not working. We also had Handel, Bach, Wesley, Elgar, Wolstenholme and Robert Cundick. I missed second half. Had tea with Andrew Cessana, Christian Strouver and Tom who goes to St Michael's recitals. There were about 50 there. To vespers and Mass and as I was early I met John East in the cathedral. Last night of the proms on TV - an odd mixture of songs about death (Purcell and Mahler) and Ketelbey, Arnold, no Sea songs. Excellent trumpet playing from Alison Balsom and Sarah Connolly sang beautifully. Enjoyed ...

Friday 40 lengths as usual (and not in the nude Graeme!) Terrific thunderstorm at lunchtime - the heavens were black. Rain poured into the study room and eventually the light fitting fell down. Water everywhere. Once the rain stopped I got on the roof to find a lake and gullies blocked. I managed to clear enough to stop the flood into the building. Carpet very wet seems to be the only problem but the ceiling may be waterlogged. Nobody came to clear the other gullies and get rid of the lake as there were problems all over Wandsworth with 2 libraries closed with flooded basements. To the pub to find it closed so we went to Flanagans opposite Battersea Dogs and cats home where I enjoyed a Guinness. Phillip and Kasmyn did not appear - it was their leaving do! Phillip actually at Liverpool University! Herbert-Jan (from Holland) who we now call Eric arrived so we got the bus to the Albert Hall and prommed. BBC National orchestra of Wales conducted by the inspiring Thierry Fischer form Switze...

What a great concert! Jiri Belohlavek proved to be an inspiring conductor directing Beethoven 9 without the score. Walton Portsmouth Point overture got the season off to a rousing start and Paul Watkin played the Elgar Cello concerto with great feeling. How he perspired as one could see on the HDD recording when I got home. I was on a lot being right behind the trombones and between Andrew and Gerald both much taller than me! I saw Peter in the Prom queue and had a long chat, also John East gave me a wave from the choir. Wasn't impressed by the soprano but Rene Pape was commanding! Enjoyed the sunshine in the park - it was a pleasant evening. On the bus met a nice man who plays in an amateur orchestra and really enjoyed the performance. Like me he met his wife through music making! Liz picked me up at East Croydon so I was home by 11 p.m.

At Coulsdon we sang the Benedictus to an Anglican chant and Sumsion in F and John Barnard's arrangement of "Lord I want to be a Christian". We also sang "And can it be" one of Wesley's finest. Teresa gave a fine sermon about how we got our names. Just like Elizabeth, my Mum insisted on my name being John despite my Dad being Francis and my Granddad Frank. I always identified with John the Evangelist. I practised "O happy day" with Generations (the bride to be very happy with it!) and was pleased that they knew Mike Anderson's "clapping" Gloria. I also worked on Mandelssohn 5th sonata and the Widor Toccata. Buses home and quick lunch and train to London Bridge. Fine evensong at Southwark cathedral and Ellie and lots of others got their RSCM awards. Harwood in A flat and the Barnard taken slower than I did it. I do tend to play too quickly. Desmond Tutu preached there this morning - I should love to meet him and Nelson Mandela. Daniel ...